Cleansing With Egg ~ Filipino Conjure & Rootwork

I am constantly amazed by how different cultures use the simplest of elements to perform the most profound work. The egg—a universal symbol of life and potential—is used as a spiritual "sponge" from Mesoamerica (where it is used by curandero) to the Philippines (by our own albularyo and baylan), and deep into the heart of Southern Hoodoo.

In the Hoodoo tradition, while an egg from a black hen is often preferred for its protective properties, any fresh egg is seen as a potent vessel for pulling away "crossed" conditions.

Atonement and the Scapegoat

While many beginners assume Hoodoo egg cleansing is a direct copy of the Latin American limpieza, my research suggests a deeper, more ancient root. I’ve learned that egg work in Conjure is often a survival of West and Central African propitiatory rites—observed among the Igbo, Yoruba, and Dagaaba peoples.

In those traditions, a feathered animal (like a fowl or dove) was often used as a "scapegoat." The priest would move the animal over the person’s body to absorb sins, illnesses, or misfortunes, ritually transferring the negativity to the animal to restore the patient's balance. In the development of Hoodoo, the egg—containing the "life" of the bird without the need for a full animal sacrifice—became the perfect substitute. It aligns with the Biblical teaching that life is in the blood; the egg serves as a bloodless sacrifice to cleanse us of spiritual impurities.

Drawing Out the Mess

There are many methods of "rolling the egg," often passed down through family traditions. As a student, I have observed that this process is as much about prayer as it is about physical contact.

When I facilitate a cleansing, I see myself as a witness to the Divine work. I instruct the client to focus on their breathing while I make the Sign of the Cross with the egg. After anointing the egg with Uncrossing or Healing oil, I move in a clockwise motion from the head down to the feet. This "sweeping" motion is designed to gather the "energetic junk" and unnatural conditions that contribute to physical and emotional stress.

The egg yolk settled to the bottom of the glass without bubbles, webs, or a foul odor, indicating nothing was happening naturally.

Oomancy: Reading the Egg

While strict Hoodoo disposal involves smashing the egg against a tree, many who follow the Latin American version of this cleansing perform Oomancy (egg divination) by dropping the egg into blessed water.

Clear & Normal: If the egg sinks to the bottom without bubbles, webs, or odor, the patient is clear, or the issue is minor.
Tiny Bubbles: This indicates a spiritual attack or negativity, but suggests the patient's protective spirit guides dealt with it on their behalf.
Webbing or Mesh: If the egg white forms a "net," something is entrapping the patient or hindering their progress. This is a sign that a Block Buster or Road Opener ritual is required.
The Eye: If the yolk resembles an eye, it is a definitive sign of the Evil Eye.
The Face: A face in the yolk represents an enemy, signaling the need for Reversing or Protection work.
Shapes: Any distinct shape formed by the yolk or white must be interpreted according to its symbolic meaning (e.g., a cross, a coffin, or a mountain).
Murky Water or Blood: This is a grave sign of curses and jinxes. The patient must immediately perform a full Uncrossing or Jinx Removal.

The appearance of clouds and webs may signify blockages and obstacles. (Photo courtesy of Ariel Marzan)

Traditional Hoodoo Disposal

In the strict Hoodoo tradition, practitioners often skip the analysis. Instead, they take the "loaded" egg outside and throw it at an old tree while praying for the removal of the crossed condition.

If the egg breaks during the ritual, it is seen as a sign of extreme negativity that the egg could not contain. In these rare cases, the mess is carefully placed in a bowl of warm water and blessed salt to prevent the negativity from spreading or contaminating others.

(Photo courtesy of Ariel Marzan)

Four eggs correspond to the mind, heart, body, and soul.

References & Further Reading:

Awolalu, J. Omosade. (1979). Yoruba Beliefs and Sacrificial Rites. Longman.
Hazzard-Donald, Katrina. (2012). Mojo Workin: The Old African-American Hoodoo System. University of Illinois Press.
Hyatt, Harry Middleton. (1970). Hoodoo - Conjuration - Witchcraft - Rootwork. Western Publishing.
Talbot, P. Amaury. (1926). The Peoples of Southern Nigeria. Oxford University Press.
Long, Carolyn Morrow. (2001). Spiritual Merchants: Religion, Magic, and Commerce. University of Tennessee Press.
Paredes, Americo. (1994). Folklore and Culture on the Texas-Mexican Border.

See, What Our Path Is

Being immensely interested in African diaspora religions and Folk Catholicism, we primarily honor our ancestors, Church saints, angels, folk saints, and Afro-Caribbean spirits such as loas and orishas. If we absolutely have to put a label on ourselves, we prefer the label of “Folk Judeo-Christian” as we live according to the customs and traditions of conjure workers and root doctors from the Deep South and syncretic followers of Christ in various nations of the Caribbean and Latin America.

Our spirituality includes West African-based Caribbean-style tradition as well as Esoteric Christianity and Yoruba religion. Generally, we practice Gullah folk magic popularly known in the Deep South as Hoodoo or Lowcountry Voodoo; the ancient wisdom founded by Orunmila in Ile-Ife called Ifa, and a bit of Lihim na Karunungan (Filipino Esotericism or Philippine Mystery Tradition).

Respect, What Hoodoo Is

Despite visible evidence of Central West African, Islamic/Moorish, Native American, Judeo-Christian, European, and even a few East Indian/Hindu, Chinese, and Latino/Caribbean retentions, influences, and admixtures, this does not mean that Hoodoo is an open and unrestricted system of eclectic magic.

Conjure, and Rootwork is rooted in African-American culture and Folk Protestant Christianity. Any practitioners of Hoodoo who did not grow up within African-American culture should still have a fuller understanding and high regard for its origin.

In the beginning, the early conjure doctors were entirely Black. The students were all Black, the elders were Black, the teaching was Black, and they focused only on Blacks as their audience. But other races were accepted when they had also been brought into the Hoodoo community and learned the tradition. Even so, we should still acknowledge that Hoodoo, Conjure, or Rootwork is not ours but only belongs to the Black community. We are just believers who are grafted into their rich yet humble tradition and, by word and deed, embrace genuine African-American folk spirituality and magic. This is all we can do for all the blessings we received from God and our Black ancestors.

Hoodoo's lack of religious structure and hierarchical authority do not mean that any person or group can appropriate or redefine it. If one cannot respect Hoodoo as it is and for what it is, then please, do not play with it.

Learn, How Conjure Is Worked On

Authentic Conjure is not all about blending and selling oils and casting spells online to make money. Hoodoo has its own spiritual philosophy, theology, and a wide range of African-American folkways, customs, and practices which include, but are not limited to, veneration of the ancestors, Holy Ghost shouting, snake reverence, spirit possession, graveyard conjure, nkisi practices, Black hermeneutics, African-American church traditions, the ring shout, the Kongo cosmogram, ritual water immersions, crossroads magic, making conjure canes, animal sacrifices, Jewish scriptural magic, enemy works, Seekin' ritual, magical incorporation of bodily fluids, etc.

Unfortunately, they are currently missing in marketeered or commercial Hoodoo, as they are being removed, disregarded, or ignored by unknowing merchants who simply want to profit from an African-American spiritual tradition, thus reducing Hoodoo to just a plethora of recipes, spells, and tricks.

Tim and I are completely aware that we are not African-Americans, so we are doing our best to retain and preserve the customs and traditions of the slave ancestors to avoid unnecessary conflict with the larger Black-Belt Hoodoo community and prevent them from labeling us inauthentic outsiders and our practice as mere 'cultural misappropriation.'

Accept, Who We Are

The byproduct of eons of slave history, Black supremacists believe that only people with African or African-American blood are real Hoodoo practitioners and are often inclined to consider themselves as the elite of the Hoodoo community; a place in which they believed that Whites, Latinos, Asians or any other races who do not have Black ancestry do not belong. Black supremacists are prone to be very hostile towards both “outsiders” and those accepting of them, fearing that their promotion and acceptance would dilute or even negate the Black identity of Hoodoo.

Although we do understand why some Blacks hold this stance, since a lot of people nowadays are misappropriating many aspects of Hoodoo and teaching the spiritual path even without proper education and training (for purely monetary purposes), we would, however, want to say that not all non-Black Hoodoo practitioners are the same.

WE respect what Hoodoo is, and we never try to change it, claim it as our own, disregard its history, take unfair advantage of it, speak against the people who preserve it, and mix it with other cultures (like our own) and call it Filipino/Pinoy Hoodoo, Gypsy Hoodoo or Wiccan Hoodoo because there are no such things.